Child of Apocalypse
by Mr. P0P0
Summary: What would happen if Natsu was raised by Acnologia instead of Igneel. Inspired by 'Eye of the Black Dragon'. Starts from the beginning of Fairy Tail.
1. Prologue

**As always, I do not own Fairy Tail, the characters of Fairy Tail, or the locations of Fairy Tail, aside from those I pulled from my head. **

**Please leave reviews about this story. I have had this idea in the works longer than I had the idea of Back From Legend. I am anxious to see if this story in particular works out better than the other one. I also want to say that I probably won't be going back to my other story, as it reminds me of the reasons that I stopped, and that brings up bad memories. It will be a few years at least before I go back, if I do.**

**I HAVE UPDATED THIS CHAPTER. Nothing much, just changing a few sentences, fixing mistakes that I noticed, etc.**

In a remote mountain range hundreds of miles from the nearest town, resided a small village, surrounded by a large forest and the mountains that enclosed the forest. In this village lived a relatively small amount of people, less than 500. It was a village that had very few outsiders living in it, mostly due to its remote nature and harsh mountains surrounding it, and thus had a very strong, yet old culture. Many of the villagers were competent warriors, due to the dangerous monsters that lived in the forest and mountains.

Thanks to the height of the mountains, many of which stretched over two miles tall, there was little to no trade with other towns. The small village relied solely on the caravan that it ran, which went nearly year round, to stay in touch with the outside world and stay in up to date with what was happening there. To say that the town would die out if the caravan were to stop operating is a great exaggeration. With many creaks and a few rivers, as well as the plentiful supply of wood that it had at its disposal, and the many other natural resources found in the forest, the village would easily be capable of surviving for decades without interaction with the outside world.

It was near this village, full of skilled warriors and craftsmen that a small boy of almost three years was running around in a clearing while his mother watched from the shadow of the trees. She had been observing her son as he explored the world for a little over an hour now. The only sour point of her life was that her sons third birthday was rapidly approaching, or so she believed. Only four more days left to enjoy the life that she had brought into the world. The woman looked up as her husband entered on the other side of the clearing. Her eyes were glued to his frame as he stuck to the shadows so as to not draw the attention of their son. As he neared, he held out his arms, offering an invitation.

Knowing what he was feeling, for she was also feeling those very same emotions, she readily accepted, entering his embrace and wrapping her arms around his torso. After a few seconds of enjoying his warmth, she unwrapped her arms from around him and twisted in his embrace so that she faced their child once more.

"Is there still no news?" the woman asked, looking up at her husband. He looked down at her with eyes full of sadness. After several moments of staring into her eyes, he slowly shook his head.

"No one has heard anything since the incident." He said, looking out to their child.

"Maybe he won't come. Maybe he has forgotten." Said the woman, hope filling her heart once more.

"I would not count on it." The man said, his arms tightening around the waist of the woman he held. "Dragons are not known for having poor memory."

"But why!" The woman cried, removing herself from the arms of her lover to turn and look at him. "Why would a dragon come to our small village? Why would it demand the life of our baby?"

The woman, unable to hold in her emotions any more, fell to her knees, tears streaming down her cheeks. The man kneeled down on the grass, wrapping his arms around his wife, her head resting on his shoulder and her nails digging into his back, but he didn't mind. He knew her feelings exactly. If he could, he would go on a rampage, smashing rocks and cutting a swath through the forest until he reached the dragon's cave, but he knew it would be pointless. He was a skilled swordsman. Many, if not all, would call him a master of the sword, but in the end, it didn't matter. Anyone who knew nothing still knew one thing, that beings descended from magic itself could not be killed without magic. And thus the reason his blade stayed in its scabbard. For all his skill with a blade, he knew not an ounce of magic. In fact, there was not a single person in the entire village that knew even basic spells. If he went and challenged the dragon that wanted to claim his son, it would only end with his death, if he was lucky.

Depending on how the dragon felt however, the dragon would kill all the villagers except his wife, due to his challenge. That was the second reason the man did not challenge the beast. He would, under no circumstances, leave his wife to raise a child alone, in the middle of a ghost town. It would be bad enough raising a child, knowing that it was destined to be taken from her, but to do so surrounded by the corpses of her friends and neighbors. She was having a difficult time as is, with the child, but to live in a ghost town too would break her.

Eventually, his wife cried herself to sleep. The man looked over at his son, who had stayed in the clearing for the last half hour, not realizing his mother's tears, and the man noticed that his son was looking rather tired himself. Looking up to the sky, he registered that he had been gone for far longer than he thought, as the sun was almost touching the horizon. Calling out to his son, the man lifted his wife up, settling her in his arms bridal style. He began to walk in the direction he believed to be his home, still unused to the woods, since he had only lived in them for about four years.

Every now and then the man looked back to make sure his son was still behind him. Even after years, the man still felt the most magical thing about the wood was the fact that even people who lived in them their whole lives still managed to get lost, but not due to poor memory. Markings on the trees disappeared or seemed to move after not even a day. Put an arrow on a tree next to a river and the next week, the same arrow, carved into the tree was now pointing the other direction and was next to a rock, no river in sight. Searching for his lost son in these woods would be a nightmare, as no landmarks were trustworthy, distance to places were oddly long or short, and it was easy to be distracted unintentionally. One could have complete and utter focus on reaching a pillar of smoke and four hours later find that they had been going the wrong direction.

But what truly frightened him about the woods was that it was too easy to forget things. A person could run into the forest, intent on getting revenge on someone that killed their family, but after not even a hundred steps they would have entirely forgotten the reason for entering the strange woods. Even worse was the fact that staying in them too long could even erase whole memories. It was not a quick thing, taking weeks to even begin happening, but it was permanent. None of the memories lost were ever reclaimed, devastating the families involved.

The man looked back as he reached his humble abode, where he and his family lived. Checking that his son was still behind him, the man struggled to open the door, as his sleeping wife was still in his arms. After finally getting the door open, he brought his wife through the living room and into the hallway, heading to the bedroom at the end of it. Once he had placed his wife into the bed, he went to the living room to look for his child. His search was quickly relocated though after he heard a noise in the kitchen. The man entered to find his son covered in flour and sitting on the floor. Sighing, he walked over to his child, kneeling down to rub the flour off of the boy. After several minutes, the child was finally clear of most signs of flour. Resting his hand on his son's salmon colored hair, the man began guiding him to the door of the house.

"Where are we going, dad? I'm tired."

The man looked down at his son's face, pausing to attempt to memorize the expression of confusion.

"I know you are, but we're just going for a walk. It won't be long." He replied, attempting to hide his sadness.

_'It is for the best'_ The man repeated over and over in his head, knowing his wife would be devastated once she knew she had been lied to for the last three years. The dragon had demanded that they hand their child over on his third birthday. His wife thought that that was in a few days. The truth of the matter was only slightly different. After such a long and hard labor, his wife had been asleep for a few days. Knowing her background, coming from a hardworking village where even the elderly worked hard and only the sick and young were exempt from helping out around the village, the man knew that she would be distressed to have been out for many days, even if she had to recover. As a result, he and the other members of the village agreed on a little lie, telling her that she had slept only a few hours, and that her labor was longer than it really was, she could hardly complain about the wasted time.

Gripping his child's hand, the man began the long trek through the woods to where the dragon had been when he last encountered it. He knew his wife would hate him for not telling her their child's real birthday. He knew his wife would hate him for not letting her say goodbye one last time. He also knew it would be better this way. It was like with medical bandages. The faster they were removed, especially if unexpectedly, the quicker the pain would go away, though the pain would be greater in the beginning. His wife had already told her son she was sorry many times over the last few years for making the deal with the dragon, but if they didn't make the deal, the village would have been eradicated, their son included. At least this way, they knew the villagers and their son would stay alive for many years to come.

Looking up to the sky, the man grew worried at the position of the sun. It would be dark in only about half an hour, which was the latest the dragon had given them to deliver the child before he came and killed them.

The man picked up his child, resting him on his shoulder and picking up his speed to a fast walk. He already knew his wife would hate him for what he was currently doing. If he got their village killed because he was going slowly, she would surely hate him even more.

It took only around ten minutes for the man to reach the designated area. He looked around the clearing in the woods, expecting the dragon to have been there already. Just as he was beginning to question if it would come, he felt a tremor rack the ground. Turning around, he was faced with the black scales and blue markings that had haunted his nightmares.

The scaled beast spoke no words, only extended its claws, reaching for the child. When his son attempted to take refuge from the beast by hiding behind him, the man released his sons hand and began to move from his son. At seeing the terrified look upon his son's face, the man could stand it no longer, turning his back to his child, hiding the tears that fell from his eyes.

"**What is the name?"**

Looking back over his shoulder, the man saw the nightmarish dragon staring at him. Seeing that the monster was beginning to become impatient after the several seconds of quiet, the man hurried to answer.

"The boy's name is Natsu."

Uttering a strange sort of grunt, the dragon kicked off of the ground, whipping its wings out a flapping hard. As it took off, the father noticed the front right paw of the beast was closed, most likely to contain his son.

Bowing his head with grief, the man swore that, even if it was the last thing he did, he would see his son once more. Turning back to the woods, the man began his walk back to his wife. It would be difficult to explain this to her.

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(Two years later)

Natsu, now five years old, was panting and gasping, standing in the middle of a vast plain. His master had managed to find this land, full of boulders of varying size, ranging from about half the size of the average human to some that were larger than most yachts.

Natsu's master had brought him to this plain, full of rocks, for one simple purpose: to destroy the rocks. It allowed his master to have a judgment of his power. Currently, he was destroying rocks about the size of a one man fishing boat. He had succeeded in destroying the ten or so that his master had grouped together in front of him, but it had left him exhausted. He turned to his master to see what was expected of him now, only to see his master move aside and reveal a second set of boulders about the same size and containing close to the same amount.

"**Again."**

"B-but master, I can't-"

"**I said, AGAIN!" **The dragon raged, lashing out with his long tail and obliterating a nearby stone, the size of which was akin to a large house. Natsu flinched at the action and struggled to not react when some of the debris hit him. It was expected, after all, for him to never show emotion, and pain was among them.

Knowing that his master would punish him for taking too long, Natsu set to work, forcing aside his exhaustion to destroy the boulders. It took around five minutes, which was almost twice as long as before. Looking back at his master, Natsu could tell he would be punished tonight for how slow he had been; his master was not forgiving in the least. Shuddering, Natsu wondered if his punishment would be the same as last time or if his master was going to try a newer torture. He had learned in only a few short weeks that he should never assume his master had run out of ideas.

Natsu had no idea why his master was so cruel, or why he was so prone to cause pain, especially in one that he was training, but he got the feeling that his master had not had another pupil before him. He did know though, from past experience that his master was going to drain as much energy out of Natsu as he could before they finished training for the day: it made the pain from torture worse. He was not looking forward to his future.

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(Months later)

Natsu had grown substantially in the last year or so, more than he had in the previous two years. He was still small, by human standards, being only six, but he was already a head taller than most kids his age, and he certainly sported more muscle, thanks to the training he had undergone in the last few years. But what struck everyone most was not his height or his muscle or his hair, but rather his scars. For a child of such a young and ripe age, he bore many scars, ranging from tiny cuts to the massive set of claw markings that started halfway up his neck, ran down his chest and stomach, before finally dipping below the waist of his pants.

That was another thing Natsu was not yet accustomed to with his masters training. His master had heard Natsu complain once of the cold when they had traveled through some mountains and now, no matter where they went, Acnologia forced Natsu to wear pants instead of his usual shorts, as well as a long sleeve shirt, with an oppressively heavy cloak. Because the darker a color was, the more heat it absorbed, the clothes were all black. It helped a little that, due to his master being a dragon, they did not often cross towns or cities, and as a result, his cloak had many holes in it, mostly at the bottom, and his shirt, having gone the last few months without repair, was currently missing both sleeves. It did not help that his master had found out he had been "too slow" to avoid the wolves that had removed the sleeves while attacking.

Currently, Natsu was unfortunate enough to be walking in a desert, his master flying high above. Natsu did not fully understand why he was walking while his master flew, observing him. All he knew was that it was some sort of test that his master had devised. Natsu was honestly not surprised. For the last few months, his master had been taking him to all sorts of remote locations to fight and kill rare beasts of all types. This was probably just another scenario where he was supposed to kill some tough monster.

Scanning the land around him, Natsu's confusion grew.

'_If master wants me to kill some beast, then why is there no beast to be seen? I have been walking these sands for almost four whole days now, yet have seen no signs of life at all, much less anything that would give me any sort of trouble. Maybe it isn't a test of strength. Maybe it is a test to see if I can survive in a-'_

Natsu's thoughts were interrupted by a slight tremor in the ground. He stopped walking, spreading his legs and bending his knees, preparing to fight. He smirked, thinking that his master assumed a beast that lived under the sands would provide any sort of challenge for him. Spotting a slight rise of sand moving at him rapidly, Natsu bent his knees further, preparing to jump. Timing himself, he leapt to what he assumed was a good height, only to spot a shadow come at him from the massive column of sand that erupted from where he once stood. Before he could come up with some way to avoid getting hit, the beast smacked him to the side, landing him into a dune while the monster fell back into the cloud of sand.

Pulling himself out of the sand, Natsu whipped his head in the direction of the cloud, waiting for it to settle. Judging by the shadow that he could see, it appeared the monster had no intention of going back down under the sand.

When the sand finally settled after a little over a minute, Natsu realized this was no test of strength or speed or any singular thing. It was a test of everything that he had learned under Acnologia's tutelage.

The beast he was facing was a dragon.

A light brown on the upper portions of its body, the stomach and inside of its legs, as well as its neck were a sandy color.

'_Maybe around one hundred feet from head to tail, about twenty five feet tall. For a dragon, rather small.'_ Natsu thought, taking in the fact that the scales on this dragon were small, only about the length of a finger. Thanking his luck, Natsu was preparing the knowledge his master had told him about fighting dragons. _**'The larger the scales on a dragon, the harder it is to pierce the layers. With larger size comes greater thickness and less gaps to slip between. This means that it would be far easier to pierce the hide of a dragon with smaller scales, as well as more gaps to slip an attack into. Smaller scales also have some ability to flex, meaning an attack can slip in that much easier.' **_

**(I realize that past fight scenes of mine have not been the best, so this is a test to see if I can actually write a good fight scene or if I will have to bring in a second party to help me with them. Since this is a test, I am hoping for reviews in particular about this next bit. Try to be descriptive about things I did right and things that need improving, so that I avoid what happened in my other story.)**

Gritting his teeth and adjusting his stance, Natsu ran to the right. The dragon already knew where he was, but that didn't mean he was just going to run straight into a meat grinder. Once he was close, Natsu noticed that the dragon suddenly tensed, looking like a spring ready to launch. Gathering his energy for when the dragon sprung at him, Natsu prepared to cast a spell. Seeing its front claws leave the ground, he took his chance.

"Chaos Dragon's Propulsion!"

Speeding up by a fair deal, Natsu made it to the tip of the tail before the dragon had fully completed its leap. Jumping into the air with his enhanced speed, Natsu had a clear view of the dragons exposed back.

"Chaos Dragon's Roar!"

Letting loose a blast of black energy at the dragon, Natsu planned to take out its wings. Unable to see the extent of the damage due to the dust cloud that sprung up, Natsu had no choice but to prepare to cast more spells.

Landing on the ground, Natsu kept his eyes on the cloud, waiting to see the dragon once more. Feeling the vibrations in his feet, Natsu realized his mistake almost too late. Seeing the maw of the dragon come out of the ground around him, he realized the dragon was trying to swallow him whole, Natsu reacted as fast as he could.

"Chaos Dragon's Claws!"

Aiming for the lower jaw, Natsu slammed both of his energized feet into it. Feeling the jaw give, Natsu did his best to throw his torso through the space his feet occupied only moments before. Just barely making it out of the jaws, Natsu rolled away to recover. Seeing that the dragon had yet to fully submerge, Natsu took another chance to attack.

"Chaos Dragon's Barrage!"

Shooting countless bolts of energy at the dragon from his right hand, Natsu charged up another attack in his left, only to curse when the tail of the submerging dragon smashed into his head. Flying back several feet, Natsu landed in a heap in the sand. Dazed, Natsu looked around weakly for the dragon. Remembering what had already transpired, Natsu quickly shot himself into the air. Upon seeing the dragon emerge from the sand, Natsu launched the spell he had tried to use earlier.

"Chaos Dragon's Blast!"

Shooting out a single, much stronger beam of energy than before, Natsu's eyes widened when the attack went into the dragon's right front leg, exploding when the beam was about halfway through. As a result, the leg of the dragon was blown off entirely. Sensing the weakness of his enemy, Natsu attempted to end the fight before he got hurt even further.

"Chaos Dragon's ROAR!"

Loosing an even stronger roar than before, Natsu was forced to land and wait to see if he was successful until the dust cloud settled from his two attacks. Panting, Natsu remembered the attack he had just used, knowing with a certainty that it was the strongest he had yet to use in his short life. Feeling a hot wetness trickle down his forehead and close to his eye, Natsu raised a hand to prevent himself from being blinded. Pulling his hand back down, he appraised the blood there, thinking back to when the dragon's tail hit him.

Growling under his breath, Natsu looked back to the cloud of dust and sand, seeing that is was in the final moments before it disappeared. Walking forward, Natsu stopped at the crater his "Chaos Dragon's Roar" had created in the sand. In it, he found his enemy. Bloodied, with broken wings and cracked claws, the dragon wasn't quite defeated. It was on its last legs though.

As Natsu stared at the dragon, judging its remaining strength, he looked at his own reserves of energy. Starting off with such a powerful propulsion spell, as well as using two roars of significant magnitude, for his age at least, Natsu was lucky to still be standing. He began to question the wisdom of his master having him fight this dragon. The dragon was severely injured, true, but he had used almost all of his energy just to get it to this point.

Seeing the dragon make its way into the sand once more, Natsu cursed the fact that he had wasted time. Knowing the dragon would be slower due to its injuries, Natsu focused on his greatest weapon; his sense of hearing. Hearing the sand move over the ruined scales of his opponent, Natsu knew exactly where it was and how fast it was going. Sensing that it was trying to circle around behind him, Natsu turned around, gathering the last of his energy for one final attack. Seeing his foe leap from the sands, he unleashed the spell.

"Chaos Dragon's BLAST!"

Natsu stayed conscious long enough to see his attack go down the throat of his enemy, before his world turned to black.

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Jerking awake with a yell, Natsu looked around at his surroundings to see only sand and the moon. For a few seconds, Natsu played with the idea that he had only imagined the entire fight, but the signals he was receiving from his body quickly convinced him otherwise. Feeling a shudder, Natsu jumped up, twisting to face behind himself, thinking that the dragon had come to finish him off, only to see his master standing before him. The two stared at each other for what felt like several minutes before Acnologia stretched his front leg, which Natsu had just noticed was clenched, out to the boy. When his claws were directly above Natsu, Acnologia uncurled his hand, dropping a white scarf made out of some kind of scales down onto Natsu.

The boy looked over the scarf for several moments before looking back to his master.

"What is this, master?"

Gesturing with his head, Acnologia pointed at the crest of the dune that they rested next to.

"**The spoils of your fight."**

Natsu looked back to the top of the dune before taking off for the top. Upon reaching the crest, the last of the breath in Natsu's lungs was forced out. There, lying in the sand of the desert was the dragon that had tried to eat him before he passed out, only…its neck appeared to have exploded halfway down its length. And sure enough, on the right side of the dragon, which was facing up from the dirt, was a spot devoid of any scales.

Looking down at the scarf in his hands, Natsu couldn't help but to feel an immense amount of pride, though knowing that his master would disapprove of showing emotion, Natsu kept it bottled up inside of himself. He had finally earned the right to the title of "Dragon Slayer."

Hearing his master come to stand at the crest of the dune with him, Natsu turned to face the dragon, paling at its next words.

**"Unless you wish to fight this hatchling's parents, we must leave now"**

Looking back at the corpse, Natsu began to question the pride he felt moments ago. He had killed only an infant. 'Hatchling' referred to a dragon too young to fly, which for most dragons occurred less than two years after birth. It was after learning to fly that the parents taught it how to fight with magic, and not just its natural weapons. It also meant that the dragon Natsu had just killed had little to no experience fighting at all, yet it had almost killed him. That also meant that it wasn't, overall, a terribly large threat, compared to an actual dragon. He shuddered once more, knowing that if this fight had been one of the parents, he would, without any doubt in his mind, be dead this very moment. Thinking back to how easily that dragon went under the sand, Natsu felt cold. He couldn't be certain, but he had a hunch it's parents could also do that...yet did his master know that it was the young dragon, or did he, like Natsu, not know until he inspected it?

"Let's leave now, Master."

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(Years later)

Natsu, now roughly ten years old, maybe eleven, was wandering around in some woods. He was currently looking for his master. He had woken up fifteen days ago to find his master was gone. At the time, Natsu though nothing of the disappearance, as it would not be the first time his master had left him while he slept. It was the first time his master hadn't come back within five days. Thus, Natsu was searching for any clue at all to the dragon's location.

Eventually, Natsu came across so many scents at once that he had to physically cover his nose to protect himself from the assaulting sensations. Feeling the direction of the breeze that had brought the scents with it, Natsu ended up outside a house. As he approached the house, a woman wearing a high collared red cloak ran at him from out of the house, waving around a broom.

"GO! Get away from my house, filthy human. Be gone."

At seeing the blank stare and no reaction from Natsu, the woman lowered her broom and looked closer at the child. Seeing the tattered state of his clothes, with a missing sleeve and many poorly done patches, she set her broom against the side of her house.

Walking up to the boy, she set her hand on his head while she looked at him closely. Seeing the top of a scar on his neck, Porlyusica stuck two of her fingers into the ragged collar of his shirt, pulling it out to get a better look at the healed wound. Unable to see the full scar, Porlyusica backed up a few steps from the child.

"I am a healer. I would like to take a look you and see if you have properly healed from your injuries."

Natsu, understanding the request, merely shrugged and took off his cloak and shirt. Upon seeing the old injury, the woman gasped, looking to be sick.

Porlyusica stretched her right arm forward, tracing the lines of scar tissue from his neck down to his stomach, following the rest of it with her eyes until it disappeared beneath his pants. Pulling her gaze from the large scar, she noticed he had many more scars, though none quite as serious as the first. Looking back to the largest scar, she decided to see if the boy would comment.

"That is a rather serious scar for one so young to bear. How did you get it?"

After a pause of several seconds, the boy responded.

"My master ordered me to fight, so I did."

Disappointed by the lack of detail, Porlyusica merely shrugged. She couldn't force the child to talk if he didn't want to. She would just have to be happy he spoke at all. Judging from his appearance, she had assumed he couldn't speak himself. At least the boy's master had taught him that much. Looking back to his clothes, Porlyusica decided to do something about the ragged appearance of his, as well as devise other plans.

"Come boy, I will get you some clothes at the nearby city."

Looking down at his clothes, Natsu decided there would be no harm in replacing his torn clothes. Following the woman, Natsu wondered if he would ever see his master again.

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Porlyusica was currently waiting on the boy to catch up with her. He had found clothes, much to her confusion; the boy had found clothes very similar to the ones he was wearing when they met. At least the clothes were cheap, as no one in their right mind would wear a thick long sleeve shirt, thick pants, and a heavy cloak, not in Magnolia anyway.

She had found out, while shopping for the boy, that he had been taught magic, though she had no clue how strong it was or how good he was at using it. She was planning on seeing if the boy would stay at Fairy Tail, as a guild would be the best place for a mage who had so obviously fought before. She was worried for the boy. In the few hours she had known him, he had never smiled once, nor had he expressed his feelings on things, such as the clothes. When asked about them, he merely said "They will suffice" and walked off with them to see if they fit. No emotion at all in the words, merely stating them.

When he ate a sandwich, he ate it fast and she almost didn't notice that he ate it, as if he was trying to hide it. If she hadn't look at his food often, she would not have even noticed it had rapidly vanished from his plate when she wasn't looking. As for his drink, she actually didn't notice when he had finished that. She merely glanced at it once and was surprised to see the beverage missing, only the glass and straw left. He had even eaten the ice cubes without her noticing. When questioned about the habit, he merely said "being caught sating hunger or thirst was an advantage for other predators" while calmly looking through cloaks, trying to find one that would fit him.

Porlyusica had never met a child who was so serious and calm at all times. Then again, she had never met a person who had survived receiving a wound like the one she had seen on his front. And his eyes were the eyes of a survivor of a tragedy. The eyes of a person who had seen too much, yet had the misfortune of now living with those memories.

Feeling a sudden tugging on her sleeve, Porlyusica jumped. Whipping around, she saw only the boy standing near her. Looking closely at him, she had to admit the clothes matched his personality. A thick long sleeve black shirt with purple trim, black pants with a black belt holding them up, and a cloak with a spacious hood. She was surprised however, at the addition of a white, scaly scarf added to his attire.

"You didn't steal that scarf, did you Natsu?" She asked, having coaxed his name out of him during their lunch. It felt odd, applying the name 'summer' to a boy she had never seen smile and to the most serious person she had met so far in her life.

"The scarf is mine. My master made it for me years ago. I merely picked it up. Where are we going?"

Still suspicious, Porlyusica had no actual proof the boy had stolen the scarf, so she decided to ignore his possible theft and answer his question.

"I know of a place you could stay for a while, if you want to. It is a place for mages such as yourself." It took a few moments, but then Porlyusica registered what the boy had said before he asked his question. "Wait, what do you mean you picked up the scarf? When I found you in the woods, you didn't have it then. That means the scarf was at least as far back as the woods."

"I used my magic to go back to where I stored it."

Blinking, Porlyusica processed that little bit of information. The wording of that sentence implies that the boy himself was actually present at the location and didn't use any sort of magic to bring it to him. She blanched, beginning to realize the speed the boy must possess in order to make a several hour hike, past her house, to his scarf, as well as the return trip, in the less than ten minutes it had been since she last laid eyes on him, and as the woods were highly dense in most parts, he couldn't have been using his full speed or he would have smashed into a fair deal of trees.

'_Less than ten minutes, yet still going slow enough not to bear any marks from hitting anything. You are beginning to interest me a great deal, Natsu, as well as terrify me.'_ Thought Porlyusica, shuddering at the hint of an even greater speed than what was displayed. It explained why his master had expected him to fight beasts dangerous enough to leave a scar like the one running down his front. It was rare to find a dangerous beast that could strike with speeds anywhere close enough to hit something as fast as that.

Walking forward, Porlyusica saw where the side street they were on connected with the main road running through Magnolia. Nearing the turn, Porlyusica turned and looked back at Natsu, taking in his choice of clothes, as well as his interesting hair color, which he had told her was natural.

"Once we turn here, you will be able to see the place I am taking you to. Trust me when I say you will know it when you see it."

Natsu, interest piqued, merely nodded and followed her to the main street. Immediately, he could tell what she meant. Positioned at the end of the main road was a building proudly displaying the name 'Fairy Tail' on a sign. Following Porlyusica to the building, he stayed behind her as she pushed open the door. Upon opening, Natsu was assaulted with a wall of noise, actually disorienting him for a moment. Realizing that Porlyusica had moved into the building, Natsu hurried to her side once more.

Upon seeing a short old man in silly clothes sitting on the bar in the back, Porlyusica headed toward him, calling out what Natsu assumed to be his name. Hearing his name, the man looked up to Porlyusica, then to her side, at Natsu. Seeing the child, the old man, apparently called Makarov, raised his eyebrows.

"Is there something you never told me, Porlyusica, or is this a surprise to you too."

Snorting, Porlyusica said "Don't be ridiculous, the child isn't mine or yours. I found him wandering in the woods. He is a mage. I thought he could spend his days here."

"The woods?" A man on one of the barstools asked. He turned around to get a better look at the kid Porlyusica brought. Wearing a long, torn black cloak, no shirt, some armor belt covering his stomach, and ragged pants and boots, this man with red hair was a rather odd person, in Natsu's opinion, as he had never seen someone who dressed anything like himself before. Upon seeing Natsu, the man got off the stool and bent down to his level.

"Hey, kid…..nice style."

Giving a thumbs up and a ridiculous grin, this man was definitely ad oddity.

"Gildarts, knock it off. He was wandering the woods alone. For all we know, he it's been weeks or even months. He doesn't need you in his face." Makarov said, addressing his guild's ace.

Before any more assumptions could be made, Porlyusica decided to speak up.

"Actually, the boy and I have done some talking on the way here. He has a violent past, but otherwise it seems to have been relatively well. His master often found beasts for him to fight, and he was injured a few times, but other than intense training, he hasn't mentioned any horrible tragedies in his life. I think his master just simply abandoned him. That is why I brought him here."

Rubbing his chin, Makarov appeared to be thinking while Gildarts, standing with his back leaning on the bar behind him, scowled. Before either of them could speak, another voice intruded.

"Come on, gramps. You can't possibly be considering taking in a brat like this."

All heads turned to look at the newcomer, a boy about an inch taller than Natsu, with spiky blonde hair, wearing a yellow shirt, brown pants, and a pair of headphones over his ears.

"I mean, come on. Look at this kid. He practically screams social outcast."

"Laxus! That is enough. This decision isn't yours to make." Makarov said, preparing to scold his grandson.

"It is fine." Natsu said, turning the attention back to himself. "Tell me, if I join your guild, do you have resources I can use to locate my master?"

"Of course, boy."

"Grandpa!"

"Laxus! You are already in trouble. Do, or say, any more and you will regret it."

"But gramps, he practically said it himself. He is only joining us to use us." Grabbing Natsu's shoulder, Laxus proceeded to shake him with one arm. "If he's just going to-"

In a split second, Natsu whipped out his right arm, catching Laxus in the stomach. Flying over twenty feet away, Laxus finally ended up landing on a table, breaking it in half. The noisy guild building immediately fell quiet, almost all noise ceasing. Feeling every eye in the building on him, Natsu spoke to Laxus.

"Do...not...touch me." He ground out, glaring at the boy who pushed himself off of the ruined table.

"You little!" Laxus shouted, running toward Natsu. Before he reached him, Gildarts put himself between the two boys

"ENOUGH!" He yelled, giving Laxus a death glare.

"B-but he hit me." Laxus yelled

"And you started it. He is trying to decide if he should join our guild, and before he can even think it through fully, you acted hostile. HERE! In Fairy Tail, which boasts about how it offers a family to anyone willing to join, you dare to be hostile, start a fight, and then try to pin the blame on the other party. How dare you! Maybe I should punish you in place of your grandfather?"

Blanching, Laxus became very pale, very fast. If there was any person he feared more than the master, it would be the guild's ace, Gildarts. Turning around, trying to preserve the last of his dignity, Laxus walked out of the guild building, everyone watching. The building was silent for several long moments before Natsu spoke up.

"If you do indeed have the resources to help me locate my master, I would like to join."

Looking at the boy, Makarov sighed. "Fine. Just try not to get into any trouble while you stay here." Makarov said, though he knew the odds of that happening were low. There were very few in the guild who had yet to get into some sort of trouble, and those who had yet to be in trouble never left to go on any jobs.

"Speaking of staying here, where will I be staying?" Natsu asked, gaining the attention of Makarov and Porlyusica, as well as one other they had all assumed had lost interest in the boy.

"Well," Makarov started "normally when someone joins the guild, they stay in the guild's apartments, but they require rent. This is usually not a problem, but seeing your age, I feel uncomfortable sending you off on requests. You'll just have to stay with someone, I suppose."

Looking around the guild, Makarov noticed all of the members purposefully avoiding his gaze. Apparently none of them wanted to take in such an anti-social looking kid who was quick to throw punches. Before he could come up with a solution, one presented itself. Gildarts ran over to the boy, picking him up and throwing him over his shoulder, ignoring the poor kid's protests.

"I'll take him. I like his style!" Gildarts said, jabbing a thumb at his chest. With that, he proceeded to run out the door with the guilds newest member. Shocked, unable to do more than blankly stare, Makarov watched as the duo disappeared.

Looking over at Porlyusica, he said, "W-well, I... I suppose that takes care of that."

"...His reason is for taking in the boy is... questionable. Will he be okay with that man? Gildarts has destroyed Magnolia several times already."

Thinking, Makarov took a few seconds to gather his thoughts. "I honestly don't think we have any say in the matter. I have never seen him more energetic about anything before."

And with that began and ended Natsu's first day at Fairy Tail.

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**I am going to do things differently with this story. The last one I did, I updated the story whenever I finished a new chapter. With this story I plan on updating on Friday's, and hopefully, if I have a new chapter ready, I will update again on Monday's, after seeing the reviews from the last chapter over the weekend and making any necessary alterations.**

**I WANT TO BE CLEAR. The updates on Monday are not promised. They are only if I have a new chapter ready to be put out on Monday, after the Friday update.**


	2. Chapter 1

**I don't own Fairy Tail or its characters.**

**All reviews are welcome and appreciated.**

**Age of characters:**

**Romeo: 14(Instead of his debut of 6)**

**Natsu: 22(Instead of his debut of 17)**

**The rest will keep their debut age**

**Like the last chapter, this one has been slightly updated. Older people to the story don't necessarily need to go back through these updates. I probably won't change too much.**

At a town called Hargeon, by the sea, a girl was angrily leaving a store. Wearing a short blue skirt, a white shirt with no sleeves and a blue cross on it, the girl was considered by many to be pretty. On her skirt, she sported a brown belt that held a set of keys and a whip. Walking down the street, she was brought out of her anger by a pair of girls running by her, stating that a 'famous mage was in the town.' This drew the attention of Lucy Heartfilia, who proceeded to follow the girls to where a small crowd gathered.

Approaching the crowd, Lucy began to feel her heart pound faster. Making her way through the crowd, Lucy finally saw the man she had heard called 'Salamander' by other girls in the crowd. Upon seeing him, she squeezed her hands together in front of her chest, certain that she was in love. After only a few short seconds, the man looked over at her and she swore she might die.

Her infatuation with the man was broken when she felt someone shove her aside roughly, trying to get to him. This newcomer appeared to be only a few years younger than her, with short, spiky dark purple hair (so as to avoid any arguments, this is going by the Fairy Tail wikia, as of March 13, 2015), wearing an open black vest with orange trim, red pants, and an orange belt and black boots. As Lucy was recovering from her previous stupor, she noticed this boy happened to be unusually fit, for a boy his age.

Running into the circle of space around the man that was devoid of women, the young boy looked at the man standing in the center of the crowd of women. The two stared at each other for several moments, baring blank expressions, before the boy spoke.

"Who the hell are you?"

Immediately, the crowd of woman proceeded to protest at the rude attitude of the boy. The man at the center held up his hands, silencing the crowd. Turning to the boy, he decided to address him.

"You are rather rude for a person your age. Maybe you are upset because you haven't gotten an autograph from me yet."

Back in the crowd, Lucy sweat dropped, realizing that the man was very vain and arrogant. How she had ever thought she was in love with the man was unknown, but she was now going to deny it to every person who would ever ask.

In the circle, Romeo spoke. "I heard you were called Salamander, from Fairy Tail. I have a rather large problem with that."

"Oh and why is that boy?" The arrogant man asked, expecting an amusing answer.

Turning his body so that his left shoulder was facing the man, the boy pointed to the mark boldly printed there. "I have a problem with you calling yourself a member of Fairy Tail because I am a member of Fairy Tail." Turning his body once more to face the man fully, he slowly began to step towards the man.

"And I have a problem with you calling yourself Salamander" the boy said, igniting one of his fists, "because I'm the member of Fairy Tail who goes by that calling card."

Closing the remaining distance with one large, quick stride, Romeo slammed his lit fist into the stomach of the man, sending him flying into an ally, where the man hit a guard who was going around collecting taxes, sending them both crashing up to the ground.

The guard, throwing the man off of him and looking at the direction the body came flying from, he saw a young mage with a burning hand. Quickly standing up and preparing his weapon, he stopped when a blue cat with wings swooped in from above him and began talking.

"Guardsman, this man" Happy, the cat said, pointing at the unconscious man beside the guard, "is Bora of Prominence, a former mage of Titan Nose. He was expelled from the guild for various reasons and just now he was posing as a member of Fairy Tail, as well as using an illegal spell called Charm. I suspect he was using it to lure in these women." Happy gestured to the crowd of women who were now looking about, confused and beginning to disperse, "If you want to follow up on this, he was talking to these women about going to a boat later, for a party. There is a possibility that he was going to sell them into slavery."

The guard looked back down at the man, now disgusted. He pulled out a pair of handcuffs and gripped the man, flipping him over. Pinning Bora's arms behind his back, the guard looked back to Happy while he put the handcuffs onto Bora. "We will investigate the boats in the harbor to see if there is one that has cells located in it. As is, this man already has a few years of jail hanging over him for using an illegal spell. If the slavery bit turns out to be true, he and anyone else on the boat will be going to jail for at least twenty years for attempting it alone. If it comes back that he has already sold anyone into slavery, you need not worry of him ever leaving jail."

Smiling, Happy waved at the guardsman while he walked away with the box he used to carry the taxes and holding the back of Bora's shirt, dragging him on the ground. Happy turned back to Romeo, who he saw was waiting for him. Going over to him and landing on the ground, Happy and Romeo began to walk away before stopping when a girl with blonde hair walked in front of them. Smiling, she waved her hand at them awkwardly while she began to speak.

"Hi. I'm one of those girls from that crowd of women you just saved. I would just like to thank you for freeing me from his spell. As thanks, how about I treat you to lunch."

Smiling widely, Happy and Romeo looked at each other and began chuckling. Looking back to the girl, they gave a loud affirmative.

"Free food? We'll totally take you up on that offer!"

Having heard their agreement, Lucy began to walk toward the restaurant district of the town. After a few minutes of walking beside the two, she realized she didn't actually know the name of her rescuers. She had only asked them to join her, but nothing else. Turning her head to look at them, she saw they weren't talking and decided to ask.

"So, um, it's kinda embarrassing, but I just realized I don't know anything about you, other than one of you is a mage. Tell me, what are your names?"

"For starters," Happy said, growing wings out of his back and flying up to Lucy's face, "both of us are mages. My name is Happy."

Putting his left hand on Happy's head and pushing him down, Romeo gestured to himself with his other hand.

"I'm Romeo. Don't mind Happy: he's always like this, when insulted."

They continued walking, turning into the first restaurant that they saw in the district, ignoring Happy's "anybody would be" and finding a table to eat at. When they began ordering food, Lucy began to regret offering to buy them anything they ordered: they essentially ordered two of everything on the menu.

Later, when two were almost finished eating, Lucy decided to talk to them in order to pass time.

"You two said you were mages of Fairy Tail, right? I was wondering if maybe I could join your guild, but I'm not sure if your master will accept me. Do you think I have a chance?"

Having finished eating, Happy and Romeo leaned back, patting their full stomachs. After adjusting to the new weight in his stomach, Romeo spoke.

"Well, you will probably get in, considering how nice you are."

Confused, Lucy tried to ask what the qualifications for joining were, but Romeo kept speaking before she could put in her question.

"It would help if I knew what magic you used, but it honestly doesn't matter. So long as you feel compassion, you will probably be able to get into Fairy Tail. That's the only real requirement."

Understanding why Romeo assumed she would get in, Lucy began to grow worried when she saw the two of them eyeing the menu again. Slapping enough money on the table to pay for the meal, Lucy ushered them out of the restaurant. Before she could head to her hotel to grab her suitcase, Romeo grabbed her and began running, forcing her to follow him.

"Come on." He shouted. "The next train is going to leave soon."

Looking back in the direction of the hotel she was currently staying at, Lucy tried to protest and go back for her stuff, but Romeo ignored her and dragged her all the way onto the train.

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(Meanwhile, on a faraway island)

Natsu was beginning to grow bored of this little side project. Thinking back, he tried to remember why he visited here every now and then.

(Flashback)

_A year and a half ago, Natsu came to this island to complete one of the s-class requests and get some quick money, as he needed some to complete a ten year quest that he was doing at the moment. Upon arriving at the island, he saw a strange beam of light shine up into the night sky. Heading to the light, he ended up looking into a clearing as cultist mages performing a ritual. His interest growing, he decided to wait and see what they were doing. After several hours, he was disappointed to see the group leave to head to some camp._

_Deciding that his time would have been entirely wasted otherwise, he went to the hole that the light shone down into and saw only ice. Shrugging, Natsu took a step forward and allowed himself to fall down into the hole. Before he hit the ice, he flipped and kicked out, hitting the highest point of the block of ice and knocking himself away, landing crouched with his back to the ice._

_Standing up and turning around, he saw what appeared to be the left arm of some giant beast trapped in the ice block. Walking around to face the front of the beast, Natsu was surprised to find Deliora within the ice. He had heard stories of the demon years ago and investigated, but was disappointed to hear that it disappeared after enter a mountain range somewhere in the north._

'What is a demon that disappeared in the country north of Fiore doing on an island near the southern part of Fiore? And why is it trapped in ice?' _Natsu wondered, his thoughts running wildly._

_Walking up to the ice, Natsu put his hand on it to check its temperature. He was surprised to feel emotions emanating from the ice, primary among them being sadness. Pulling his hand back, Natsu knew the spell, whatever it was, had been at the expense of the user. After all, spells that left emotions were either memories or magic connected to the life of the caster._

_Natsu's interest in Deliora was redirected as he started listing powerful mages that used to use ice spells, but were now deceased. Unfortunately for him, it was not something that he studied all that much. He had only put about an hour of work into studying the lives of former mages with great power, and he came out of that knowing most of these intensely strong mages died out on the Hundred Year Quest, but none had ever gone too far north of Fiore, especially not in the last ten or so years. He made a mental note to ask Makarov for a list of the past candidates for Ten Wizard Saints._

_Looking back at the ice, he noticed a small pool of water. It didn't surprise him, as the ceremony that he had witnessed earlier had to relate to this ice block. It also didn't surprise him that someone was trying to set Deliora free. People often set trapped demons free for revenge, tests of strength, or to use its power. Most times these people died and someone else would have to come along and seal them away again or, if the demon was weak enough from its imprisonment, kill it._

_Seeing that some of the water branched away in a tiny trickle, he followed the water as best as he could. Before long, he saw some light. Curious, he walked forward and saw that the branch of the cavern he was in led to the ocean. Looking up, he saw the moon in the sky, shining in the sky. Looking back at the trickle of water, Natsu thanked his luck that he had gone to this island when he did, or else the water from the ice block would have made its way to the ocean. If that happened, it would have been next to impossible to revive the mage who trapped Deliora, and if he had managed to bring them back, it would have taken decades._

_Raising his right hand toward the ocean entrance of the cave system, Natsu had already made his decision. Gathering his energy and taking his time casting the spell, for if he messed it up, it would be a mistake that would take decades to rectify, Natsu carefully allotted a portion of his energy into forming a barrier to block off the entrance. Before he walked away, Natsu double checked that the barrier spell had a link to himself, just in case anyone found it and tried to destroy it, they would have to go through his energy reserves before it would be shattered. On his way out of the cave system, he looked at Deliora once more, taking in the sight of the once feared demon, before he sensed an anomaly._

_Jumping up the block of ice and out of the hole that he entered from, Natsu could only think of how he sensed only one energy signature within the ice, not two._

'Whoever sets that demon free, for whatever reason they are doing so, will be disappointed. It is already dead.'

_So consumed in his thoughts of this mysterious person that had sealed, and killed, Deliora, Natsu left the island, forgetting that he had gone there with the intention of getting money from completing the request of the locals, so that he could complete the ten year quest he was on._

(End flashback)

Drawing away from his thoughts, Natsu looked over at the pool of water. It had grown considerably in a year and a half, which also meant Deliora's prison had shrunk too. Unfortunately, this wasn't progressing as fast as he had hoped. He thought it would take only a month or two at most. At least it wasn't truly wasting his time. He would only stop by every once and a while to check the progress and then he would be gone.

Hopping down from the boulder he was resting on, Natsu turned and began to walk away. After less than twenty steps, he turned back, having forgotten to leave the clothes he had gotten for the person after the revival was completed. Jumping up to the top of the boulder he just left, he put his hand in his cloak, withdrawing a set of female clothes from one of the many interior pockets. Setting them on the boulder, he resumed walking down the familiar path once more, only to turn back. At seeing the large quantity of water, he felt excitement, not that it showed. His master had trained him too well.

'_I cannot wait to meet you in person, Ur. I am tired of only reading about you, but what I have read has gotten my interest.'_

Heading out of the cave system, Natsu set out for Fairy Tail. He was ready to rest after having completed his sixth ten year quest since he had first visited this place, including the one he was doing at the time.

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(The next day, at Fairy Tail)

Lucy was standing outside the guild, frozen at the prospect of entering the place she had dreamed of for so long. She was knocked out of her awe by Romeo, who grabbed her arm, an annoying habit he seemed to have, and began dragging her toward the building while Happy moved to throw open the doors to the building.

"W-wait! I can't just go in. I haven't prepared myself yet." She protested, to no avail.

"Nonsense." Romeo said, grinning.

When the door to the guild opened, they were assaulted by a wall of noise. To Lucy, it sounded hectic and dangerous, but to Happy and Romeo, it sounded like home. Running into the guild, Happy flew off and landed somewhere in the rafters of the building while Romeo turned around to look at Lucy.

Raising both of his arms into the air, his grin threatening to be a permanent fixture on his face, he yelled above the noise.

"WELCOME TO FAIRY TAIL!"

It was not long before Romeo disappeared into the building as well, leaving Lucy to figure things out by herself. Heading to the back, as that seemed to be the one place where there was no fights occurring, Lucy found herself at a bar. Looking at it, she saw two girls around her age behind it, cleaning glasses. One girl had short white hair, wearing a green spaghetti strap top, as well as a short blue skirt; the other had longer white hair, wearing a red dress. Upon seeing Lucy, the girl with shorter hair put down the glass and held out her hand, offering it to her.

"Hi, I'm Lisanna." Gesturing to the other girl, "This is my sister Mirajane. You are?" Lisanna asked.

Reaching out to shake the girl's hand, Lucy tried not to ogle Mirajane, one of her heroes. Pretty, smart, and amazingly powerful, Mirajane was a well-respected Fairy Tail wizard.

"U-um, my name is Lucy. I came here with Romeo to join Fairy Tail. Will that be ok?"

Looking happy at the idea of getting a new member, Lisanna said, "I'm sorry, but I am not at liberty to let you join. The master is the one that makes that determination." Looking over Lucy's shoulder, Lisanna smiled. "You appear to be in luck though. He just came in."

Turning around, Lucy had no luck in finding the master, as the fight that was happening restricted her line of sight to the door. It only took a less than a minute, but she found the master pretty quickly…or rather, he rose up out of the crowd, his height growing to over twenty feet. Once he stopped growing, he yelled at the top of his lungs, quieting down the guild immediately, aside from Romeo and another mage with black hair, who wasn't wearing a shirt. Seeing that the two had caught the master's attention and that he raised his foot into the air, everyone in the guild knew what was coming, aside from the two fools.

As quick as a striking snake, the foot came down, crushing the two and shattering the wooden floorboards under his foot. After lifting up his foot and seeing the two scurry from under it like cockroaches, the master grunted, his size shrinking once more while heading for Lucy at the same time. To Lucy's surprise, the man kept shrinking until he came up to only about her waist.

"Well now." He said, looking up at Lucy, "Who are you, pretty lady?"

Startled out of her staring, Lucy answered. "I'm Lucy. I was hoping I could join Fairy Tail." Realizing she should tell the master of a mage guild that she was trying to join what type of mage she was, she quickly interjected. "I-I use Stellar Spirits."

"Hmm…been a while since we had a Stellar Spirit mage. Sure, you can join." Makarov said, enjoying the dumbfounded expression on her face.

"Just like that? Seriously?" Lucy asked

"Yes. It's that easy."

Before they could say any more, they heard a disturbance over to the side.

They looked over to see Romeo and the still unknown member of Fairy Tail arguing again. At seeing the two, Mirajane sighed and looked to Makarov.

"The two idiots are going at it again. Want me to stop them this time?"

"No, I will deal with thi-"

Makarov was interrupted by a person running into the guild, the doors slamming into the walls. He was doubled over at the waist, panting hard. After a few seconds, he stood up and tried to speak, still out of breath.

"He…he's…back…Natsu's back..." He said

Almost immediately, the guild quieted down, many people moving to the walls of the guild building. Looking around at the reaction, Lucy wondered what type of person Natsu was in order to bring this reaction to the liveliest group of people she had ever seen. Upon hearing the master begin to speak, she looked at him.

"So he's back already, huh? How many does this make, Lisanna?"

"This would be the sixth quest, I believe, master, in the last eighteen or nineteen months."

Makarov let out a long sigh before he spoke again, his voice worried. "He's going to get hurt, one of these days, if he keeps going like this. Ten year quests aren't meant to be stormed through like this."

"I can understand how you feel, master." Lisanna said. "Mira took a ten year quest once and came back in bandages with the quest unfinished. Once she returned, Laxus and the thunder tribe had to go out and finish the quest for her, as her failure had let a demon run free across Fiore. In the end, Mira had to go out and help them defeat the demon. Yet, despite the danger and difficulty of these quests, Natsu is doing as many as he can as fast as he can. It won't end well."

Confused and unable to hold back any more, Lucy interjected. "You keep saying that these quests are ten year quests, but Mira did one, and she looks only a few years older than me. I highly doubt she went on one at eight or nine, especially if they are dangerous to S-class wizards. If they are called ten year quests, why don't they take ten years?"

Makarov looked at Lisanna for a few seconds, seeming to try and communicate with her. After a few seconds, Lisanna nodded her head and went over to Reedus and began to talk with him, eventually coming back with one of his magic pens.

When Lisanna got back to the bar, with Makarov and Lucy, she held up the pen in the air and began drawing many tiny boxes.

"These are the regular requests. As you can see, there are many of them, in various sizes to determine the difficulty of the quest. They range from the size of a shot glass sized quest," Lisanna said, putting the relatively small glass on the bar, "meaning these quests are rather easy. Others range to the size of a pitcher." Lisanna put a much larger pitcher on the bar. "These quests are much harder than the shot glass difficulty quests. Then, there are ten year quests. If I had to determine the size of these quests…" Lisanna cupped her chin with one hand, gripping the elbow of that arm with her other arm. She thought for several moments before her eyes wandered over to a person slightly down the bar. There sat a girl with a barrel of mead between her legs, occasionally lifting it up to chug as much as she could. Gesturing to Lucy, Lisanna went to a trap hole in the ground. Hesitantly following, Lucy went down after her, Makarov following the pair, as he had nothing else to do. When they were all in a room that appeared to be a storeroom, Lucy looked around, seeing many bottles upon bottles of mead and beer. After a few seconds, Lisanna gestured again, taking them further into the cold storeroom. After a short walk, they came upon where the barrels of alcohol were stored. With a wide wave of her arm, Lisanna pointed to all of the barrels down in the storeroom.

"Comparatively, these would be the 'ten year quests.' They can range from slightly larger than a person's head, all the way down to larger than a person. This obviously means all of these quests are much higher than your standard job." Gulping, Lucy looked around her, taking in the size of the barrels. One that she saw was over ten feet wide, thirty feet tall, and obviously very heavy. At that moment, Lucy vowed to never take on a 'ten year quest', especially if they were so much harder than the 'shot glass' quests.

"Then," Lisanna continued, "there is the 'one hundred year quest.' If I had to judge the size of that…. It would be an entire brewery. So far, not a single mage has made it back alive, or so the legend goes, from the 'one hundred year quest.' The most difficult request that has ever been made and many notoriously powerful mages have tried to challenge it. Ever heard of a super famous mage who was supposedly the newest 'strongest mage'? Why do you think you no longer hear about them? They never came back."

Before Lucy could list any mages, Lisanna continued with her explanation.

"Obviously, there are different types of people who drink alcohol. There are those who drink a few cups and are done, which represents most mages. The reason 'ten year quests' are called 'ten year quests' is because if a normal mage were to try and 'drink it', it would take them about ten years, at the very least, to finish it without dying. Other mages, like Natsu, only take a few months to do the same thing, and that is often only due to the travel time and related costs."

At that moment, they were interrupted by Mirajane, who they heard calling back near where they entered.

"Master, Natsu is nearing the guild. He should be here any minute." The voice of the popular model/mage echoed down to them.

Grunting, Makarov set off toward the trap door. He wanted to know what the reward was for the quest Natsu did, as he usually only accepted quests with oddities given out instead of money. Many of these odd bits and bobbles usually were harmless, but some of them were powerful items, of which the owners were unaware of the power they wielded.

Reaching the trapdoor, Makarov was too preoccupied with his thoughts to attempt to offer to ascend the ladder after the girls, who were wearing skirts. He quickly set up the short ladder, and upon reaching the top, he was helped up by Mirajane. He hopped up on the counter, surprised to see that Erza, another of Fairy Tail's S-class wizards, was leaning up on the bar, awaiting Natsu's return. Before long, Lisanna and Lucy had both joined the small group at the bar waiting for the Chaos Dragon Slayer.

While waiting, Lucy looked at Mirajane and the red haired girl in armor, just another anomaly she would accept as normal for Fairy Tail, and saw they were friendly bickering with each other. Leaning over to Lisanna and speaking softly enough so that she was not overheard, Lucy asked the other girl who the new person was.

"That would be Erza. She is also one of the S-class mages in Fairy Tail, along with my sister and Natsu. You wouldn't know it by looking at them now, but they used to be big rivals."

Looking over at the two girls, Lucy saw nothing but playfulness in their eyes. The two appeared to be close friends.

"What happened to get them to like each other so much?" Lucy asked.

"Well…nothing happened between the two of them, really. Erza was always somewhat kind to the people in the guild, in her own way, but when it came to Mira, she hated her. One day though, Mira took my brother, Elfman, and I on an S-class quest. Over the course of this quest, my brother lost control of a monster he was trying to tame and attacked my sister and I, with me almost dying. In the end, Natsu saved us. Eventually, this led to Mira settling down somewhat and tried to befriend Erza. You can see the results for yourself. They still bicker, argue and makes bets, but most are friendly."

"This Natsu must be a nice guy if he saved you. Why does everyone seem so afraid of him if he's like that?"

Laughing awkwardly and scratching her face, Lisanna attempted to explain. "Well, he is kind of a nice guy, I think. He just had a hard past, probably. No one knows, as he doesn't speak of the time before he joined Fairy Tail. It's more like he is misunderstood. It doesn't help that he doesn't really do nice things."

Not understanding the situation, Lucy continued, "Eh? But if he saved you and your sister, how can he not really do nice things? Wouldn't that, in and of itself, show that he's a nice person?"

Holding her hands in front of herself, Lisanna shook her head and attempted once more to clarify. "He did save my sister and I, as well as helped my brother finally gain dominance over the beast, but that was purely by coincidence. It was really more of an accident. He just happened to be doing another quest nearby at the time, involving killing a demon. He saved us by knocking the demon into the beast my brother was trying to control. It was really just luck that his fight spilled over to where we were."

Before Lucy had an opportunity to process the scenario in her head, she felt the temperature of the guild drop. Looking over to the door, Lucy understood why many people seemed afraid of Natsu. Standing tall, over six feet, highly muscled and toned, radiating an intense aura, the man was downright intimidating. His clothes, all black, except a white scarf made of scales, covered most of his skin, aside from his face and hands, when they weren't hidden by the cloak, did nothing to drive away the fear that Lucy felt. His cloak, heavy and large, made him seem bigger than life. With piercing black eyes and a frown on his face, he gave off the appearance of a very displeased man. His hood, covering most of his face, made him all the scarier by casting him in shadow.

Even surrounded by S-class wizards, as well as the master of Fairy Tail, Lucy could not help but fear for her life as he strode into the guild, his footsteps resounding throughout the guild with surprising force. When he drew near, she felt as if Death was gripping her soul with cold, bony fingers. Stopping a few feet from the bar, he raised his right arm, appearing to Lucy as if he was preparing to send her to the underworld.

Instead, he merely reached to his back, grabbing hold of a staff Lucy had not noticed and bringing it around to hold it out sideways, toward the master. It was then that Lucy saw that he had a ring on every one of his fingers, some silver, others black, all with strange carvings on them. Every last one of the ten rings he wore seemed to emanate some sort of strange power. When Natsu spoke, Lucy flinched. The words he said were rather simple, but his voice carried a power and confidence she had never heard before, even from her father. Natsu's voice, deep and chilling, seemed to hit her very core, making her shake with a fear she had never known.

"The Staff of Aclo, master." He said, his eyes drifting over to Lucy. When his gaze landed upon her, she felt herself stop breathing as her shaking intensified. "Did we get a new bartender?"

Makarov, reaching out and taking the staff, said while examining it, "No, she is only another new member." Scratching his chin, Makarov racked his brain for knowledge of the Staff of Aclo, knowing he had heard the name before. "I am afraid to say I cannot remember what this staff is, though I have heard the name before. Care to inform me?"

At Makarov's inquiry, Natsu took his eyes off of Lucy, bringing them back around to the master.

"Originally a demon turned human, it killed many other demons with Demon Slayer magic, before challenging a dragon to a fight. The dragon, its name unknown, was very powerful, possibly a king of its element. After the fight, the dragon victorious, he was turned to into a staff for his arrogance at challenging the dragon. Later, the staff ended up in the hands of a Dragon Slayer, who killed the dragon, but died doing so. Thousands of years later, the staff is now said to be cursed, as while it holds great power, many of those who use it die horribly. Only a lucky few did not die from this 'curse', but they did disappear. It was the turning point for many wars though, including the Fiorian Civil War. Technically, the staff is a national treasure of Fiore."

Looking up from the staff, Makarov stared at Natsu. "Where did you find a national treasure that went missing and kills its users? Also, will possessing this come back to haunt the guild, either with the Fiorian Royal family or with magic?"

Gesturing vaguely with his left hand, Natsu said, "The ten year quest I did gave me the location. It was sealed in an underground cavern about half a mile below the surface, with many golems and undead guarding it. If you are worried about it coming back to harm us, I have already contacted the royal family. They don't want it. They actually offered to pay me to keep it. As for the magic of the staff, I have a few ideas. They may even get rid of the 'curse.' I'll probably give it to Mystogan. Staffs are more his thing."

Bringing his right hand up to his hood, he drug it back, letting it fall down around his shoulders. Seeing the face of this man did nothing to reduce the fear Lucy held for him. With a tattoo under his left eye, words in a language Lucy didn't think anyone knew, aside from him, and a scar on his forehead, looking like something ripped the skin from it many years ago, he was probably more intimidating. The only thing that ruined the image was his pink hair, thought Lucy knew not to say anything about it.

His left hand, crossing to his right hip, disappeared back into the cloak before coming back out with a sword. Holding it halfway down the scabbard, he thrust it at Erza. She took it in her hands, inspecting the black scabbard, silver handguard etched with strange symbols, and plain pommel, aside from a black gem set at the end, which had a curious white light at the center.

"The sword you requested. It was made to repel the attacks of demons, though it is only as effective as the user is strong. Name it whatever you want."

Nodding, Erza put the sword into one of her requip dimensions as Natsu turned away, taking the Staff of Aclo when Makarov held it out to him. While Natsu was walking out of the guild, Makarov shouted after him, "Make sure the staff doesn't kill Mystogan, if you do decide to give it to him. Otherwise, keep it locked away. If the royal family is willing to pay you to keep a national treasure away from them, we don't need it getting stolen from us. We already get enough letters about our actions from the Council as is." Raising his right hand, Natsu waved off the master's words as he had already planned on doing that.

When he left, Lucy collapsed to her knees. Out of breath, she struggled to inhale. At seeing her struggle, Lisanna bent down and rubbed her back, a small smile on her face.

"Yeah, Natsu has that effect on people, especially the first time. But at least he is on our side, right?"

Looking over at her, Lucy remembered the girls earlier words. Thinking back to Lisanna's words about Natsu, Lucy began to question the girl's sanity.

'"It's more like he is misunderstood." _Yeah right! That guy is a monster.'_

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(With Natsu)

Walking through the woods, Natsu could see his house among the trees. It was a little larger than he would have liked, but he couldn't really help that. He had found out years ago that Romeo was living out here with his father's consent. Upon seeing the house, Natsu was immediately amazed at how such a poorly constructed house had yet to fall apart. Grabbing Romeo and Happy, he forced them to help rebuild, though before they were done, Gildarts had found them. When he heard the situation, he destroyed the house, declaring that they would build it larger, so that they could all live in it. Later, Laxus had revealed to Natsu that he was a Dragon Slayer too, but didn't know how to use the Lacrima in his body too well. Therefore he, and by extension the Thunder God Tribe, also moved into the house, adding a portion to the house for them to live in. Natsu trained Laxus and Romeo for many months, but now, much to Natsu's annoyance, Laxus and the Thunder God Tribe refused to move out, claiming it would be easier that filling out the paperwork and moving to Fairy Hills' respective male and female dorms. Gildarts, of course, refused to allow Natsu to 'remove them' from the house, so now they were a part of his life.

Walking into the large two story house, Natsu saw Freed in the living room/Freed's Library, reading a book. At hearing the door open, Freed looked up and greeting Natsu with a nod. Natsu walked past him, heading for the stairs, passing Bixlow while heading up. Once in his room, Natsu threw his cloak on his bed, which was barely big enough to hold him. Unlike Evergreen, who liked to live lavishly, the rest of the people who lived in the house all preferred rather Spartan accommodations. The only reason there were curtains in any of the rooms, much less all of them, was because Evergreen insisted on having privacy from the outside, which the rest didn't understand, as they lived in a part of the woods that was densely packed and very secluded. The only path near the house was the one that led to the house from Magnolia.

That was not to say they were ungrateful to everything Evergreen did. The couches in the living room were extremely comfortable. It was also her idea to have tables and bookshelves added to the house. Before that, the books they owned merely sat on the ground or on the couches. It was also her that felt the heat in the ground and decided to inspect it. Now, years later, they had a large hot spring behind their house, though they didn't appreciate that she made them dig with shovels when Gildarts could have easily just made the hole himself.

Shaking his head, Natsu came back to reality. Reaching back, he made sure the staff was still strapped to his back before he left his room, heading for the stairs. Getting close to the stairway, Natsu saw Bickslow lying across the railing, his arm propping his elbow up.

"Ever's going to kill you."

Looking back, Bickslow lazily did a half shrug, or as close as he could come, and responded as two of his dolls flew up to him carrying a platter full of food.

"What she doesn't know won't hurt her." As Natsu was descending the stairs, he heard Bickslow say, "Good to see you back. Those ten year quest's will get you killed, at this rate. I don't care if you have a bet with Gildarts or not, you gotta be insane to try and breeze through such hard quests."

Once back in the living room, Natsu went to one of the four couches located there. When Freed saw that he was walking to the couches, staff on his back, he got off of the couch he was sitting on and began shoving it away, revealing a set of glyphs on the floor. When Natsu reached down and touched the glyphs, they glowed and the wooden planks that made up the floor began to separate, revealing a curving stone stairway leading underground.

When Natsu was far enough down the stairs, torches on the walls began to light up, a strange blue fire making the rest of the way down visible, while also revealing the defensive marks on the walls and stairs. Pulling back his left sleeve to expose the symbols on his left forearm, he checked once more to ensure the marks were working properly. Grunting, he pulled his sleeve back into place before mentally acknowledging the many advantages of living in a house full of mages with various types of magic. It would be rather difficult if he and Gildarts had to set up this vault all by themselves, as they couldn't just leave these objects lying around their house. In their vault, they held far more than enough power to destroy Magnolia a hundred times over. This staff would only add more destruction.

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**So, as always, I would love reviews to know how the story is**


	3. Chapter 2

**I don't own Fairy Tail or its characters.**

**All reviews are welcome and appreciated.**

**This chapter also updated. Again, mostly grammar and such**

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(Near Hargeon town)

Natsu stood at the back of a large merchant vessel, facing the ports that he had just departed from. He was not usually one for nostalgia, but it was hard to believe that after all this time, he would be going back to his homeland. It had been around fourteen years since Acnologia had taken him and flown to this continent, training him while traveling between the countries the land held.

Sighing, Natsu reached into his cloak to look at the paper Laxus had given him.

'_What kind of potion requires the blood of a dragon? I have been alive many years, studying all things related to dragons, but have never heard of anything with these ingredients. A griffin's feather, two wyvern claws, a golems eye. This list goes on and on, full of rare or mythical ingredients.'_

It was a rather odd assortment of ingredients, but it was the final one that really caught his attention.

'_The hair of a fairy? I was under the impression from staying at Fairy Tail that no one had ever seen a fairy. Who made a potion that requires a never before seen ingredient? How does the client even know this potion will grant never ending life?'_

Grunting, Natsu stuffed the list back in his cloak, his suspicion arising. He would look further into this quest, and if this turned out to be fake, Natsu and Laxus would be having a talk.

Felling the vessel crest a larger than normal wave, Natsu turned his attention away from his quest and Hargeon. It didn't take long for Natsu to be brought back to the first memory he had.

_The sun was coming close to the horizon, which to this particular place was the mountains surrounding the forest. He was running in a clearing, trying to catch anything that flew too close to him. He looked over at some point to see a woman, the upper part of her face covered in shadow, watching him with a sad sort of smile on her face. It was not long before he was distracted by a small swarm of insects to fly by him. Laughing, he reached out and-_

Natsu jerked, feeling a hand on his shoulder. Reeling back, he whipped around to see what touched him, only to see a terrified sailor standing there, his arms raised as if to ward off a blow. Glancing down, Natsu saw his right hand covered in energy while his left arm had a piece of wood in it. Looking at the railing, Natsu saw that he had ripped a chunk of the railing off when he reacted to the touch. Hearing whispering, he peered around the boat from the cover of his hood to see the all of the sailors on the deck staring at him, many reaching for weapons. Deciding it would be best if he left, Natsu decided to retire to the room he had rented.

When he reached his room, he sat on the wooden slab that was his bed. Putting his face in his hands, he was decidedly ashamed. Even after so many years, his master still held this much sway over his life. Hating himself, he distracted himself by listening to his immediate surroundings, namely the conversations on the boat.

"_I called out his name a few times and he never responded, so I just touched his shoulder."_

"_Odd. I've never seen anyone react like that before."_

"_Me either." _A third voice nervously interjected. Shifting his focus, Natsu listened around for the most important conversation he knew would be happening.

"_Captain? Me and a few of the boys were talking. We want to ask you to turn around and drop him off. He's not natural. He will be the death of us."_

"_No. We are being paid too much for something like this to force our hand."_

"_Captain! What kind of pay could we possibly be getting to put up with-"_

"_Enough to pay for the rent and food of everyone on this boat for a year. That's why I won't turn around. I want a year with my wife and children, dammit. Now get back to work!"_

Sighing with relief, Natsu knew the wants of the captain had just saved him big time. If they had turned around, the sailors would have spread the story like wildfire. It would have been next to impossible to get across the ocean on a boat like this after that, and even if he did secure passage on a different boat, it would cost ten times as much.

Of course, he could get across the ocean himself, but he didn't know exactly where his destination was and the sailors that knew of its location didn't have it put on any map. It was a rich land, with many resources and lots of people. In other words, a merchants dream. Who in their right mind would share info about a place like that with others when doing so would cost all of them so much money? Thus, for a ludicrous price and an agreement that he wouldn't print any maps with the out-of-the-way continent, he had secured this crappy room with no bedding or chairs. It was the only way to get their without entirely draining him for days of energy, if it didn't kill him. It would be rather bad if he ran out of energy in the middle of the ocean, full of dangerous monsters, and barely able to stay awake. Thus, the boat was his best bet.

Natsu decided he would spend the rest of the one month journey in this room, only opening the door to accept food and 'relieve himself' when necessary on the upper deck.

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(Nine days later)

Erza walked into the guild and began looking around. After spotting the people she was looking for, she went around the guild, gathering up Mira, Romeo, Gray, and Lucy and brought them to the infirmary. When in there, she locked the door, making sure no one could get in. She turned around and faced the curious looks of the people she gathered.

"There is a problem. While on my last quest, I heard some people in a bar talking about a lullaby. At first, I thought it weird that grown men in a bar would be talking about a lullaby, but the men mentioned a name that caught my attention. Erigor."

Looking to Lucy, Erza explained, "He is the guild ace of a dark guild. They only take on assassination missions or other requests that are forbidden by the council."

Lucy gasped, looking disgusted by the thought of only murdering or stealing for a living. Mira meanwhile had immediately begun focusing at hearing the name Erigor. "Erigor is a dangerous sort. If my memory serves me right, he has only ever taken up assassination requests. He is certainly not a man to underestimate, as some assassination request can involve mages. He may have tricks up his sleeve. In fact, I am almost certain that he does. He could not have gained the position of guild ace if he didn't."

Nodding, Erza continued. "The problem doesn't end there. Lullaby is a demon that was made into a flute. Exceptionally powerful, anyone that hears its melody dies almost immediately. The problem also arises from that Eisenwald may have looked for help in freeing Lullaby from its prison. If they forged an alliance, we will be in trouble."

Growling, Mira added, "And to think the master would be gone right now. He's at the annual guild master meeting."

It took a few seconds of silence, but soon, most of the mages in the room were looking at each other, having come to the same conclusion. Only Lucy was confused, as she had been thinking about the master at the meeting. She hadn't even realized he was missing. She was shocked then when the others began shouting frantically.

"They're targeting the masters!" Mira shouted

"We need to hurry and warn them." Erza said, trying to remain calm. "Get Natsu or Laxus-"

"That isn't an option." Romeo interjected. "Laxus and the Thunder God Tribe set out to exterminate a dark guild a few days ago. Natsu left a few days before them to go on another ten year quest."

"What?!" Mira questioned. "The guild didn't have any other ten year quests on hand. I handle the quests that the guild has, so I should know. Where did he find out about another if not from us?"

"I don't know!" Romeo shouted. "All I know is that Laxus told him about a ten year quest about a week or so ago and Natsu left the next day. I don't know how Natsu knew where to go, if he didn't have the actual request poster. Maybe Laxus told him."

"Well that's just great." Great said angrily. "Our guilds fastest mages are away and we have no real clue where they are or where they will be. Eisenwald may already be at the meeting place, and to top it off, most of our S-class mages are gone too."

"It doesn't matter." Erza said. "All that matters now is that we do everything we can to stop this. There is a train leaving Magnolia in a few minutes and one of its stops is a town that has a train that runs to the meeting point. It should only take an hour at most to get the masters. We need to leave now."

After she spoke, Erza began immediately walking, heading toward the door. Not bothering to unlock it, she summoned a sword and sliced through the door, the others following behind her on the way out. Once out of the guild, they ran at full speed for the train station, hoping to get there before the train left.

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(Twenty minutes later)

Mirajane sat in a train car with Erza, Romeo, Gray, and Lucy. Currently, they were trying to figure out something that was seriously perplexing to them, as they had nothing to do until the train stopped.

"Think Romeo! We need more details to understand what happened here." Gray shouted, shaking a nearly unconscious Romeo.

"Indeed. I have heard of many ten year quests over the years, but never any so bizarre." Erza said, rubbing her chin. "You are sure you never heard of any ten year quest with a potion in its description?" she directed her question at Mira, who shook her head.

"I've been mediating the quests for a while now. I've been keeping an especially close eye on the ten year quests, as Natsu has been recklessly running through them recently. I can think of none that mentioned a potion."

Feeling left out, Lucy decided to speak up. "I think the real question is 'What kind of potion requires a ten year quest title?'. I mean seriously, what ingredients could possibly be in this potion that require an S-class mage to go and collect them? Even if it was just hunting rare monsters for ingredients, it shouldn't take that long, right? I mean, what monsters are alive today that are so powerful that S-class mages are a must?"

"You raise good points, Lucy." Erza admitted. "Sadly, I am unable to come up with any ideas either. Many monsters nowadays are singular and not truly a part of any species. Very rarely are monster of the same species seen together or at all. Therefore, coming up with potions requiring monster parts means either an amazingly skilled person is making the potion, as they can come up with the right amount of ingredients on the spot and have the potion come out perfectly, or the person making the potion is willing to scour all of Earthland for the ingredients. Neither bodes well, as the actual use of the potion is unknown. For all we know, the potion could be used in a ritual to bring back the dead."

"Why is that a bad thing?" Lucy asked

"Many people" Mirajane started, catching the attention of everyone except Romeo, "have tried to bring back the dead over the years. The only problem with this is that most of these people, for some insane reason, choose not to bring back a loved one with these rituals. Instead, they try, and fail, to bring back the Black Mage, Zeref."

Once the name 'Zeref' had been uttered, the temperature in the train car seemed to drop. Everyone knew the name Zeref, as he had caused untold amounts of trouble across the world. Many of his demons, to this very day, 400 years later, still roamed Earthland, wreaking havoc and raising the amount of deaths pinned to the dead mage. The only problem with these demons was not how powerful they were, as many mages were stronger than these demons. The problem was that they were powerful enough to hurt the countries they were in. Not wanting to appear weak, the countries didn't report the demons in their borders, thus making it harder for the mages who could kill the demons to find them. In an attempt to look strong, the countries of the world killed themselves by acting as if nothing was wrong.

Gray sat down in a seat, leaving Romeo on the floor to suffer. Leaning forward, he rested his chin in his hands, thinking of the original problem at hand: the quest Natsu was on.

"Is..." he started, gaining everyone's attention, aside from Romeo. "Is it…possible that Laxus gave Natsu a quest that doesn't exist?"

It was quiet in the train cart for several moments before Lucy spoke, noticing Erza and Mira had gone pale.

"Why would he do that? What would he gain?"

"You wouldn't know, Lucy, having only recently joined," Erza said, "but Laxus has spoken before of taking the guild. It is possible that, if he did indeed send Natsu away on a wild goose chase, he may be intending on making his move soon."

"It makes sense too, in a sick way." Mirajane added. " He spoke of it once and a while as a kid, but ever since Gildarts left, he has been bringing it up more often. He never spoke of it in front of Natsu that I have heard of. With Gildarts _and_ Natsu gone, Mystogan who knows where and the master showing signs of growing old, it is possible he thinks he can pull it off. Everyone in the guild knows the master has been getting weaker in the last few years, but Laxus can't possibly think that he can beat him. The master may have gotten weaker, but he isn't that weak."

"Grief can do many things to a person." Gray said, obviously thinking of something in his past. "Maybe he is hoping that the surprise of his attack, as well as the grief coming from it, will finally push the old man onto his last legs."

"Or the master will get angry" Erza said, "and be fueled by his rage at Laxus. It could go that way."

"Doesn't matter too much." Gray sulked. "if either of those scenarios happen, the old man will only be a shadow of himself. The guild will be destroyed."

"But how can Laxus just do something like that?" Lucy asked, desperate "Wouldn't he be kicked out or arrested?"

It was horrifyingly quiet in the train cart until Mira gathered the courage to voice the words "Hostile takeovers aren't exactly unheard of. If he manages to pull it off, he will become the master, as our current master, Makarov, has yet to name a successor. If he goes down, it will be passed on to his heir. Laxus will get the guild because of the rules of the magic council."

It was several moments, but eventually Erza spoke, attempting to get them off of the subject and onto a more pressing one.

"This is a ridiculous conversation to have with the master's life in danger. First, we save him and the others. Then we can tell him our concerns."

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Smiling broadly, Laxus couldn't help but feel ecstatic. "And you're certain?"

"Yes." Freed said. "Bickslow saw it with one of his dolls. Natsu has left Fiore. But, if you don't mind me asking, why did Natsu have to be out of Fiore for our plan to work?"

Getting up off of the bodies of the dark guild mages, Laxus walked toward the door. "I never told this story to anyone before, but when Natsu first arrived at Fairy Tail, he saved my life."

Shocked, Bickslow, Evergreen and Freed stopped in place.

"It had only been about a week or so after he joined, but I was out on a mission, pretty far from Fairy Tail and he was still trapped in Gildarts' house. I was on an extermination mission, still getting used to my Dragon Slayer magic and the monster I was fighting was kicking my ass. At one point, I let out a scream during the fight because the beast got in a serious hit and it hurt like hell. I didn't expect anyone to help me, not being over 100 miles from the guild, but just as it was about to finish me off, he appeared. The monster went down rather easily for him, as he had more experience fighting with that magic. Later, as he was carrying me back to the guild, I asked him how he knew. Do you know what he said, Freed?"

Not knowing what to expect, Freed merely shook his head no. Seeing the answer, Laxus continued.

"He told me he heard my scream."

Laxus allowed them to process that sentence, seeing the shock and disbelief on their faces.

"I don't know if he was using a spell to enhance his hearing or not, but I'm sure you can see now why he needed to be out of Fiore for this plan to work. His senses have only gotten sharper over the years, yet even at then, he heard me over a hundred miles away and reacted fast enough to save my life. I don't know why he hasn't used that level of hearing ever since, but I am positive he has only gotten better."

Thinking, Freed stated "What you said may not necessarily be true, about him not using such good hearing again."

Grunting, Laxus waited for an explanation.

"You remember the quest a few years ago with Mira, Elfman, and Lisanna, when they almost lost Lisanna and Elfman? He said he was close by and his fight just happened to spill over to where they were but I was doing a quest a few miles away and saw Natsu looking for that demon there only hours before. It may be that he actually did find it close by, or it could be he heard them losing and decided to intervene."

"Hmm." Laxus pondered what Freed had pointed out. Now that he thought about it, Natsu happened to pop up in a lot of places. "Regardless, there is no way he will know this time, with him not being in the country, and once the guild is mine, he will probably quit. Come on, let's get a move on. I want to scope out Magnolia and wait for the perfect opportunity."

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(The middle of an unnamed ocean, during a storm)

Natsu was sitting on his bed, bored out of his mind. He had been out at sea for over a week, almost never leaving his room. Curious about how things were back at the guild, he closed his eyes, focusing his energy near there.

"Chaos sight." He breathed. Before long, his sight went darker and he waited.

_He watched as a pale version of the outside guild appeared before his eyes. Walking forward, he pushed open the ethereal doors, seeing the pale transparent members of the guild. Looking around, he saw Macao and Wakaba staring at Lisanna, appearing to be talking. Ignoring them, his attention was drawn to where Mira was usually at, seeing the girl missing. Looking around, he noticed Laxus and Erza weren't at the guild, Mystogan still not there either. Alarmed, as he knew the master had requested of them that at least one S-class was there as often as possible, he knew something serious must have happened. _

_The world went white before he saw a train car forming around him. Not long after, Erza, Mira, Gray, Romeo and….bartender formed as well. Natsu was confused as to what they were doing, and why the new girl was there too. They had a certain tension about their bodies, as if they were concerned about something. Beginning to grow suspicious, Natsu's mind raced._

'Mira and Erza wouldn't just leave the guild unprotected, especially not when the master went out of his way to ask us to stay. Something serious is happening. Something major enough to have two S-class mages concerned.' Natsu thought, looking at their faces. 'However, I need to finish this quest to beat Gildarts in the bet we made. Although…the captain said this trip was only a week long. He told me that once he got to the continent, he would sail around to the port cities to trade with merchants for about two weeks. At most, I have a month until he is back in Fiore. Screw it. Gildarts wouldn't acknowledge the bet if I let our guild members die in the process.'

Ending the spell by opening his eyes, Natsu left the room he was in. He would tell the captain he was leaving and why, as well as when to meet with him again.

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**Sorry this is short, I just wanted to look at some things and before I post the rest, so I am only posting the first half of this chapter for now. The other half may come on Monday if I finish it, or if I update it on Friday, it will be the length of a regular chapter.**


	4. Chapter 3

**I don't own Fairy Tail or its characters.**

**All reviews are welcome and appreciated.**

**This chapter is also updated. Still working on the new chapters.**

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Exiting the train, Lucy looked around hoping to spot one of the people she came here with. Seeing Mira and Erza next to each other, she walked over. As she was closing the distance, she noticed Gray heading to them as well, from a different part of the train. When she got to them, Happy flew down and landed on Mira's head. Seeing Gray within earshot, Erza nodded.

"Good. Now that we are all here, we will split up and search for any clues of Eisenwald or any guild they may have allied with. This town was the last place I saw the people speaking about Lullaby. Every hour, we will meet up four blocks down this main road." She said, pointing to the road that led from the train station all the way to the edge of town. "If someone fails to meet up, we will know where to begin looking at the very least."

"Uh…guys?" Lucy began, getting the attention of the gathered mages. "Where is Romeo?"

They paused for several seconds, all trying to remember the last time they saw the Fire Dragon Slayer. Going pale and beginning to sweat, they turned to where their train was, only to see it already a fair distance down the track.

"How could I have forgotten him?" Erza asked, bringing her hand to her head.

"To be fair, we all did." Mirajane said. "You go and stop the train. I'll follow the train and grab Romeo." With that, Mira morphed into a large bird like form and took off after the train.

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Walking down the aisle of the train, a young man noticed a person lying on the floor, between two benches. Bending down, he helped the young teen onto one of the benches and sat opposite him.

"I hope you don't mind if I take this seat. This seems to be the quietest spot on the train at the moment." Noticing the guild mark on the young teens left shoulder, the man leaned forward, clasping his hands in front of himself. "Oh, you're a mage, are you? If I'm not mistaken, isn't that the Fairy Tail symbol. You guys have been getting quite the bit of attention lately." Hearing only a groan in response, the man's face scrunched up. "You alright? You aren't carrying an infectious disease, are you? Nah, you wouldn't be on a train otherwise."

Sighing, the man brought his right hand up to his head, supporting it. "Man, I really admire you. Getting to be a part of such a large and popular guild. It must be very nice." Closing his eyes, a cruel smile spread across the man's face. "Or rather, that's what I would say" he said, bringing his leg up and slamming his foot on Romeo's face, holding it there, "if I cared. As it is, I prefer Eisenwald just fine. Who gives two shits about what those Council geezers say. They can take their laws and die!"

Romeo, having looked at the man once he was kicked, growled and grabbed his foot, shoving it aside. Standing up to meet the man, he looked up at the taller individual. "I don't know who you are and I don't care either. If you don't like the geezers that much, you must have a problem with us guilds too, and that I do care about. No one talks shit about Fairy Tail and gets away with it."

Seeing the teen take up a fighting stance, the man also began to slide into his stance. The teen lit his right hand on fire, pulling it back and preparing to swing. As the man prepared to block the hit, the train shook a bit, and the teen was grapping his stomach, having gone a sickly shade of green. Looking at the now bent over teen, the man laughed. He laughed so hard that he had to sit back in his seat to avoid falling over.

"W-…What kind of magic is that!?" He laughed, holding his stomach. "You can't be serious. Ha…stop it. I can't take much more of this."

All of the sudden, the train, and all of its contents, went flying in one direction. Having been lurched out of his seat, the man looked around.

"An emergency stop? Why is the stupid train stopping?"

Before he could begin making his way to the front of the train, he noticed the teen standing up from the floor, fire surrounding him.

"You…are going…to regret ever getting on this train." Romeo said, his gaze blazing anger.

Quickly backing up, the man made it to the door of the train car, preparing to run. As he was opening the door, he looked at the boy and shouted, "And you are going to regret ever getting in the way of Eisenwald, brat. I don't care if your guild is big or strong, you will feel the bite of a scythe soon enough."

Beginning to run at the man, Romeo stopped when he felt the train lurch once more, this time into motion. Covering his mouth to avoid throwing up, he looked back to the man. "You're lucky we're on a train, or I would kick your ass."

Running to a window, he punched his way through it, as well as a small portion of the wall around it, and launched himself out of the window. With the train quickly passing him, he noticed Mirajane in the air above the train, having transformed into some massive bird beast. Before he could call out to her, he heard Gray's voice shouting, but couldn't make out the words. Twisting in the air, he saw Gray just in time to slam his head into Gray's head. With both of the boys rolling behind her, Erza stopped the magic carriage she had borrowed.

Landing next to the two boys in her human form, Mira ran to Romeo and began to inspect him, as his motion sickness could sometimes cause serious problems. "At least you appear to be fine. That's really all that matters." She said to Romeo.

Whipping his head about to look at her, Romeo said, "How am I fine? Some weirdo picked a fight with me on the train. Oh well, at least I know his name. What was it…? Ei…sen..wald, I think it was."

Running forward, Erza smacked Romeo across the face, sending him quite a distance, for a slap. "Idiot!" She shouted while Romeo was still airborne. "Eisenwald is what we're after."

Sitting up and rubbing his face, Romeo scowled. "Is that what you guys meant when you said Eisenwald before? I thought it was a type of food."

"Why would it be food?" Lucy shouted, incredulous.

"…I was hungry at the moment. I didn't really stop and think about it, alright?"

"It doesn't matter now!" Erza shouted. "We have wasted enough time talking. Get in the cart."

With there being little room in the cart itself, only Romeo and Lucy got in it. Gray climbed on the roof of the magic cart, followed by Mirajane, who wanted to preserve her magic for the fight she knew was coming. When they were in position, Mira slammed her hand onto the roof, alerting Erza who was waiting for a signal to go. Kicking up a small shower of rocks, the magical cart sped off after the train.

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Opening his eyes, Natsu saw the train from his spell roar past the rocky cliff he was resting on. Grabbing the edge of his cloak, he wiped away the sweat that formed while he made his way toward where he currently was as fast as possible. He had done it before, but he still wasn't used to crossing half of Fiore in such a short amount of time. He was lucky he had managed not to hit anything on the way, as he still had difficulty seeing at such high speeds.

Sighing, Natsu stood but stopped when he saw a magic cart chasing after the train. Spotting Erza driving, with Mira and Gray on the roof, bouncing around wildly while desperately holding on, and Romeo and the new bartender, whose name he still had not been told or found out, were inside the cart, arguing about something, but he could see panties in Romeo's hand, so he could guess what the argument was about.

Shaking his head, Natsu decided it would be best if he didn't know how they got from on the train to chasing it.

'Even if they were just going to the town where the master's meeting was, didn't any of them remember the rail lines were shifted around again? They could have just taken the train all the way.'

Looking toward the nearest outcropping of rock, Natsu leaped to it, then onto the next and so on. He had already missed his chance to go back to the ship he was on before, so he might as well follow the train too.

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Hopping off or out of the cart, the group assembled outside of the train station at which the train they followed had just stopped at. They were surprised at the military presence but they quickly picked up that it was due to the fact that a dark guild had stormed into the station and cleared it out, as well as the train, though it did end with a few unconscious military personal before they got the information, courtesy of Erza. Running up the stairs and into the train station, they stopped when they saw the members of the Eisenwald guild standing around.

Upon seeing the men and women of the dark guild, Lucy gulped and began to tremble. Many of the men and some of the women were looking her up and down, their eyes lingering on her exposed flesh. Licking their lips, they began to grin horribly. They were not the ones that Lucy was afraid of though. She saw a few of the members glancing at her, holding knives, with one of them licking the blade. The ones with small knives all had cruel smiles and looked as if it was their mission to cause as much suffering as possible before they died. Walking backwards, she stopped after only two steps, when she saw Romeo approaching the evil guild.

"Where is the bastard that hit me?" He yelled, seemly uncaring that the people he yelled at would kill him if they could.

He stood there, defiantly glaring down the guild of murderers and crooks, searching for the one he had seen before. It was not long before he spotted the familiar face.

"There you are, you bastard!" He roared, sprinting at the mage who merely stood there, waiting for him. It was not long before Romeo sensed danger and, jumping into the air and flipping backwards, he stared at a man he had previously ignored. While Romeo stared down the man with a scythe, he felt his own blood drip down his cheek.

"I hate being ignored, brat. Especially when the person ignoring me is my prey." He said, staring down at Romeo while sneering.

Before Romeo could retaliate, Erza stopped him, holding him back while addressing the man. "I take it you are Erigor? Don't bother answering, it would only waste both of our times. We have come to stop your plans, whatever they may be."

"Their plan is probably to broadcast the lullaby using the stations systems." Mirajane interjected.

Standing resolute and preparing to fight, Erza responded with a mere, "Then it is especially important to stop them."

Thinking fast, Lucy ran outside,toward the crowd, looking for a megaphone. Spotting one held by a military officer, she ran to him just as the other four charged Eisenwald. Swiping the megaphone from the hands of the officer, she warned the crowd of the imminent danger that awaited them. While the crowd quickly dispersed, she turned back to the fight, which had moved to the inside of the station and went to join in, ignoring the protest of the military personal she had taken the megaphone from.

Upon entering the building, she saw Erza and Mirajane ripping through the enemy guild members, often sending them flying away. It was not long before the two of them had cleared out most of the Eisenwald mages, with a rare few having managed to make it to the cover of the corridors of the station.

"Erza, Lucy!" Mira shouted, in her Satan Soul form, "I will go to the master and alert him as to what is happening here. I will leave the rest of the mages to you, while Romeo and Gray deal with Erigor in the other building." With that said, she flew out of a pane of glass that Lucy hadn't noticed was broken before. Looking at the few stragglers who were just entering the tunnels, Lucy sighed, preparing for a long stretch of dangerous tasks.

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It had only been a few moments that she had been flying but Mirajane heard the wind picking up speed behind her. Turning around, she saw a barrier of wind encompassing the entire station. Before she had time to formulate a response to the barrier, she noticed shadows approaching it. Looking out at the town, she saw hundreds of people approaching the station, all of whom were mages. Looking carefully, she saw many mages who were considered S-class, though they resided with dark guilds.

"Shit! We were right about Eisenwald forming an alliance. How could we be so foolish?"

"…Indeed…" she heard faintly behind her. Whirling around, she came face to face with Natsu, who was floating in the air beside her. He appeared to be observing the mages carefully, stroking his chin in contemplation.

"W-what? How are you here now? I thought yo-"

"Go warn the master. I will do my best here, but it is possible Lullaby may slip through still." He interrupted, not looking at her. Hesitant, Mirajane turned her back to him, heading in the direction of the master.

'If it's him, maybe it is possible for them to make it out alive, though I can't say if they will be in good condition.'

Pushing aside the thoughts of what was happening behind her, Mira focused on making it to the master as fast as possible.

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(Twenty or so minutes later)

Erza sighed at what she was witnessing. After all they had gone through with wiping out Eisenwald, why was it that she wasn't surprised to rush to the aid of Romeo and Gray, only to see the two fighting like they always were. She considered for a moment hitting the two but eventually her exhaustion won over her irritation and she simply stepped in between the two boys, pushing them away from each other. "Come on, you two. Knock it off, we have work to do. Grab him" she said, pointing the fallen Kageyama, "and hurry up, we don't have time."

It was not long before Erza twisted around, having heard a noise. Upon seeing the knife sticking out of Kageyama's back, with a member of Eisenwald already disappearing into a wall, she quickly lost hope, as he was the only one inside the wind barrier who could dispel it. Grabbing him, she ran to the entrance of the station, where the wind barrier was visible, hoping that he could undo it before he died. It was a pointless hope, as he would not open his eyes. Just as all hope was beginning to seem lost though, the wind barrier had black wisps running through it. Noticing the oddity, Lucy gasped.

"What in the world?"

Looking up from Kageyama, Erza, Gray, and Romeo all stared with as much wonder as Lucy. It wasn't long though before Erza realized what was probably about to happen. Grabbing the others, she quickly threw them away from the barrier, into the relative safety of the station, before she herself dove past the doors of the building. Within seconds, the barrier, as well as much of the exterior of the building, was ripped apart. Looking around at the destruction, Erza and the others quickly noticed something that was not there before. It took only a moments, but soon enough, the deep cold and sense of dread that came with his presence penetrated them, making Lucy shake while Erza, Gray and Romeo repressed their shaking, having accustomed to the feeling over the years. He was not, however, facing them. In fact, he seemed to be preoccupied with something down the steps.

Getting up and approaching him, Erza stopped only a foot behind his right shoulder for she had seen what took up his attention. Gray, Lucy and Happy stopped on her right, wanting to put space between themselves and Natsu, though Romeo went to Natsu's left, and the four gasped at what they saw.

Standing at the bottom of the steps was somewhere between five and six hundred mages, grouped into what were probably their own guild mates, forming eight roughly shaped circles. In front of every circle stood at least three individuals per circle, though some had up to six. Judging by the appearances of the individuals that stood between the circles and the Fairy Tail mages, they were the S-class of their respective guilds.

"Erza" Natsu's deep, penetrating voice rang forth, "there is a spare magic cart in the second building. Erigor has fled from the station with Lullaby. Take the cart and the others and follow him. I will hold these mages here."

Eyes widening, Erza opened her mouth to protest but one of the dark S-class mages spoke before she could. "You can't be serious. I don't know who you are, but there is no way one man can take on eight dark guilds, which have a combined total of nineteen S-class mages, not to mention the others. No matter who you are, it is simply impossible."

Reaching up with his right hand, Natsu undid the clasp at his neck, which held his cloak firmly in place. Turning as his cloak fell to the ground, he addressed the Requip mage once more. "The longer you stay here, the more likely it is that the master will die. Go. Now." Finishing his sentence, he put his hand on her stomach and shoved her back over twenty feet. It didn't take long for the others to take the hint and leave for the other building to look for the cart.

Facing the mages once more, Natsu stared at them for a good minute before addressing them. "I have always wondered if you dark guilds were anything worth calling strong. Considering the Magic Council lets you fools run amok as you please, my curiosity has been peaked. Prepare yourself."

Laughing, the man who spoke before responded. "You may be a Fairy Tail member, but you must be stupid. I have only heard of one really strong mage from Fairy Tail, and that's Gildarts, who you certainly are not. That must mean you are being pampered or something, brat, to actually think you can take us on, cause I have never heard of you."

"…That old man…He must have either not been reporting my actions or crediting them to someone else. I suppose I'll have to ask him later." Natsu said, mostly to himself. Having grown irritated with Natsu, the mage who spoke for the others decided he had had enough. Gathering his energy, he ran up the steps, prepared to strike Natsu. Jumping once he was close to the top of the steps, he swung his powered up fist, glowing blue.

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	5. You'll see

NO, this is not a new chapter. I just felt the need to explain the really long delay.

My last computer was broken when my brother decided to play a prank on me. He wanted to see me panic and get angry, so he hatched an idea to move my computer, monitor, etc., but when moving the computer, the idiot I call a brother dropped it. Fortunately, I had most of my files saved on a flash drive. Unfortunately, I did not have my NEW, un-uploaded chapters saved anywhere else. This means I have to go back and rewrite those chapters all over again.

If any of you are wondering why this came out so late, I had to first get a new computer, which obviously took a long time. Sorry for the delay, and my brother now knows to stay out of my room, so him breaking my computer again shouldn't happen anymore.

I have not abandoned this story, BUT I will need time to go back and see if I can figure out what I was doing. It has been a few months after all, and my memory never was the best.


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